The Southeast Region includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Welcome to the Southeast Region Blog!

Welcome to the Southeast Region Blog!

Greetings to all members in the Southeast Region of the American Guild of Organists. I hope that this blog can be an easy way for us to keep in touch. Please contact me for news and events from your chapter that should be included. I'm happy to spread the word! Scroll to the bottom of the page for the regional events calendar.

Best wishes for a wonderful 2015-2016 season.

Laura

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

On Saturday, November 3, Joby Bell, University Organist at
Appalachian State University, came to Christ United Methodist Church in Chapel
Hill to lead a workshop on tips and tricks in hymn playing. Over 20 organists,
young and old, were present. He led it in an informal style, encouraging
questions from the attendees. Several hymns, including ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord
God Almighty’, ‘Holy God, We Praise Thy Name’, and ‘Praise to the Lord, the
Almighty’ were used to demonstrate techniques such as effective hymn leading,
tempo, pulsing, rhythm, and registration. Bell also demonstrated, with good
humor, ways to lead a congregation astray, and he solicited ideas on how to
avoid those issues to be a more effective leader from the bench. He also asked
for volunteers to demonstrate their ideas in hymn-playing. In the question and
answer session, some great questions were asked, including what to do if
someone were to complain the organ was too loud (watch the tuning, and get
information about why this perception is made), how to break up repeated bass
(pedal) notes, and how to play more pianistic hymnody on the organ. It was a
very effective workshop.

Councillor for the Southeast Region, Laura Ellis

I am delighted to serve as Councillor for AGO's Southeast Region. My duties are to relay the needs of our region to national and to communicate national level decisions to our membership. I look forward to meeting many of you and visiting one of your chapter events!